British helicopter deaths: a grim reminder

The deaths of five British service personnel in a helicopter crash in southern
Afghanistan come just as the long-running Nato mission in the country is
finally drawing to a close, at a time when it was hoped the grim toll of
casualties may have stopped rising

After nearly 13 years in Afghanistan, and eight bloody years in Helmand, Britain’s combat mission finishes at the end of this year.

The deaths, on Saturday, of five British service personnel in a helicopter crash, mean that the campaign to prop up Hamid Karzai’s government against the Taliban, and to fight alongside and train up his soldiers and police, has now cost the lives of 453 UK troops.

Their mission may have been eclipsed in the news by events in Syria and Ukraine, but they are a grim reminder of the risks still faced by around 5,000 British personnel remaining in the country.

The British military focus has long since switched from fighting on behalf of the Afghan government to taking a back seat to train and advise Kabul’s own security forces.

Since the peak of the British presence in 2011, when more than 10,000 British were strung out around more than 120 bases in Helmand and often found themselves in daily combat, the troops have pulled back to Britain’s sprawling Camp Bastion complex and one other small observation post.

By the end of 2014, those too will be closed or handed over to Afghan or US forces and all British troops will have left the southern province.

A huge exercise to get hundreds of vehicles and thousands of tons of equipment which has accumulated over eight years is under way. The job has been called the biggest logistical challenge for the Armed Forces since the end of the Second World War. Container loads of equipment is being ferried out of the country on commercial trucks via Pakistan and military vehicles and sensitive equipment is being flown to the Gulf and loaded on ships to be ferried back to the UK.

Earlier this month Britain passed a milestone in the withdrawal when Britain’s command of Helmand came to an end and control of the area was handed over to US forces.

British forces still remaining in the area now report to the US Marines as part of the Regional Command South West, which is headed by an American Marine Brigadier General.

What they will leave behind and whether they have succeeded is too early to tell. The responsibility for securing Helmand and the rest of the country has been passed to Afghanistan’s own police and soldiers. Commanders say they have improved greatly in recent years. Security in swathes of central Helmand has improved greatly from the dark days of 2008 and 2009 when British troops were fought to a stalemate and the writ of the Afghan government did not extend beyond the governor’s compound.

But commanders are also worried that Afghan forces may not be able to stand on their own without the money, supplies and support they have relied on from the international forces. The burden of casualties has also passed to Afghan troops as the British have withdrawn. Local forces are now suffering numbers of dead and wounded in such terrible numbers that British commanders privately worry whether they are sustainable. Military chiefs pitched a plan to keep a small contingent of advisers in Helmand after next year to keep the support going, but it was rejected by a war weary Downing Street.

The end of the combat mission in Helmand is not necessarily the end of a British military presence in Afghanistan altogether however.

Britain has said it will train young Afghan officer cadets at its officer training academy, known as Sandhurst in the Sand, at Qargha on the western outskirts of the capital.

Generals also want to keep high level military advisers in the Afghan ministry of defence and the ministry of interior where local forces still need significant help. Britain would also like to keep some special forces in the country. Taken together, Britain may end up with 200 to 300 troops in the country.

A final decision on what Britain keeps in the country after so long will not be made until the Americans have decided on their own plans. Hamid Karzai blocked their own troop plans for next year after refusing to sign a security deal and Washington has resigned itself to waiting for Mr Karzai’s successor being appointed before they can decide how many troops to keep in the country. Whitehall sources say without an American presence, it is almost certain Britain will not keep any troops in the country.

For as long as British troops do remain, whether that is until the end of this year or beyond, helicopters will continue to be the cornerstone of military transport around a country where there are few decent roads and where the prospect of those roads being attacked remains strong. As long as that is the case, the risk of tragedies such as yesterday’s crash, remain.